Garuda Indonesia secures London Heathrow slots

Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has secured slots at London Heathrow ahead of the launch of direct flights there early next year CAPA has reported.

Though it currently serves London Gatwick as a tag-on sector to its Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta-Amsterdam flight, Garuda is now planning to decouple each service into a direct flight from Jakarta beginning March of next year. 

Owing to weight-limitations with Jakarta's runway, the Heathrow service will initially operate via Singapore Changi though there are plans to eventually start non-stop flights once said limitations have been resolved.

The Indonesian carrier has, however, postponed plans to start flights to Paris CDG and Frankfurt Int'l next year given revisions to its widebody fleet expansion plans. As recently reported, Garuda is planning to either cancel or defer all six A330-300s slated for delivery from Airbus Industrie (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) in 2017; a move that will curtail the necessary capacity required to open new stations.

ch-aviation / Photo:Ton Jochems - AMS